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May. 05, 2013 @ 10:20 PM

Story does not accurately reflect MU faculty meeting

Curtis Johnson's article in the April 20 edition about the emergency faculty meeting at Marshall doesn't do justice to what actually happened there. Faculty members voiced very specific observations about Dr. Kopp's leadership, which in this article are boiled down to "popular themes." The reporter elaborates on one "theme," the lack of presidential availability, spells Dr. Diener's name incorrectly in doing so, and then adds that "professors do not return the favor" of Dr. Kopp's open door policy. It is perfectly clear that if the president appeared at any faculty member's door, he would be welcomed. The truth is, that has very rarely happened, which is part of the problem.

The reporter offers quotations from only two professors. There were plenty of Marshall professors at the meeting that he could have interviewed. Ending the article with a statement that blatantly favors Dr. Kopp makes the article entirely unbalanced. And it shows that Mr. Johnson entirely missed the essence of the problem: that Dr. Kopp's move, whether the right thing to do financially or not, was done in a way that has damaged Marshall's ability to move forward as a coherent organization and to best serve our students.

After a difficult 10 days, the administration and faculty have agreed that there is a problem, and we are devoted to working together with classified staff and students to make Marshall stronger than it has been. It would help if Mr. Johnson and his editors contributed to that effort rather than continue to publish poorly executed stories like this one.

Dan Holbrook

Huntington

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